We watched the first episode of Iron Chef America, the Food Network's new version of Iron Chef, tonight. We were a bit apprehensive because Iron Chef USA, the previous UPN attempt at Iron Chef, was so awful. But our concerns were unfounded; this one was great! They got the tone just right: a bit over the top but totally serious about the cooking, never winking at the camera or treating the competition as a joke.
The new Iron Chefs are Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. I'm not crazy about any of them, but considering that we could have ended up with Emeril I'm not going to complain. Especially since the commentator is Alton Brown! I love his show and I've always thought that he would be the perfect American version of Doc Hattori. Turns out he is!
I also appreciated the choice of judges: a chef (Kerry Simon), an editor from Bon Appetit, and only one BDJ (bimbo du jour -- actor Brian Unger). They weren't Asako "Crone Goddess of Food" Kishi, but it was nice to have judges who actually know something about food.
In almost every way it was a vast improvement over Iron Chef USA, the two part UPN special from a couple of years ago. They didn't understand at all what makes Iron Chef worthwhile. There was no respect for the competition, with jokey elements like sports commentators who knew nothing about food, an instant replay of a judge (a Playboy Playmate) eating, and one of the chefs taking a cell phone call during the battle. The only thing I preferred about Iron Chef USA was William Shatner as the Chairman. Shatner really is the perfect choice for the role. But the new guy playing the Chairman on the Food Network isn't bad. He's not The Shat, but he's not bad.
They started the new series by having the new Iron Chefs battle original Iron Chefs Sakai and Morimoto. (We think that from something Sakai said, Iron Chef Chen was also supposed to be there but couldn't make it for some reason.) Tonight was Flay vs. Sakai. [Spoiler Alert:] I wasn't surprised that Flay won. Sakai's dishes looked like classic Iron Chef, but the judges weren't Japanese and maybe Flay's heartier Southwestern style was better suited to their taste. I was, however, appalled to see that Flay scored higher than Sakai in presentation. Sakai is "the Delacroix of French cuisine" for god's sake! [End Spoilers]
Tomorrow night they're going to rerun the Flay-Sakai battle and then show Morimoto-Batali.
4 Comments
what time are they rerunning it?! i /must/ watch alton brown do commentary!
Tonight they're showing Sakai/Flay and Morimoto/Batali from 9 to 11 pm. Tomorrow night starting at 6 they're showing the whole shebang: the "making of" special hosted by Alton Brown, the 2 battles that have already aired and then 2 more battles: Morimoto/Puck and something called "tag team finale" which I guess will be both Japanese Iron Chefs against 2 of the American Iron Chefs.
The "making of" special is worthwhile because not only is it an hour of Alton Brown talking about Iron Chef, there's extensive coverage of the cutting board incident (at the end of the NY battle, Bobby Flay jumped up on the work station and stood on a cutting board to cheer for himself. In Morimoto's post-match interview, all he could talk about was how kitchen tools are sacred and Flay is not a true chef.)
It's clear that Fuji's Iron Chef would sometimes manufacture rivalries to create dramatic narratives on the show (i.e. Kandagawa or "the Ota faction") but I always thought the conflict at the end of NY battle was spontaneous. Morimoto seemed so genuinely offended that he couldn't restrain himself from the "He is not a chef!" outburst. And the interviews Morimoto and Sakai gave last night tend to confirm that. They both sounded absolutely appalled.
I wish the US version had been a little more "over the top" on the production values. I also missed the Japanese judge whom Jeff and I have dubbed "The Giggle Girl" ("this dish.../giggle/ ..it...mmmm...tickles my stomach... /giggle/")
We had a sushi dinner & show-watching "thang" with tempura and sake and mmmmmmm. I made up scorecards and eveything -- it was great!
I still <3 Alton best of all.
Alton is the best! The show would not have been nearly as enjoyable without him.
(I have to admit, I'm envious that you got to meet him! We wanted to go to that event but it was the day before we went out of town.)